Pretty Village, Pretty Flame

During the war in Bosnia a group of Serbian soldiers, in retreat, are trapped inside an old tunnel with Bosniak units waiting outside. One of the men inside, Milan, is on the opposite side from his childhood friend Halil. The film moves across three times: the tunnel, the childhood before the war, and the hospital afterwards. Srđan Dragojević does not explain the war; he shows what happened and how fast people can become enemies. The humour is black and continuous, and nobody even stops talking. The propaganda sign at the mouth of the tunnel and the insults traded through it are its most cited passages. It caused argument in Serbia and counts among the harshest films made about the war in the region. Who it is for: viewers who like Balkan war cinema and black humour. Who it is not for: anyone troubled by heavy violence and the language of ethnic hatred.